God loves for us to help the poor in any way we can, and we should. However, some people mistakenly think that if we just give the poor lots of material help (food, clothing, money, etc.), then they will come to Christ automatically. Usually that is not the case. You can’t “bribe” people to enter the Kingdom and shouldn’t have to. The Bible says the Kingdom is like a giant pearl to be greatly desired, so much so that you’d be willing to sell all to get it.

We learned this lesson the hard way when we were “budding” missionaries working in the village of 2 de Octubre. We flooded the people with lots of goodies every time we went. We gave them our best in sharing the Word, too, all the while enduring hardships for the cause of Christ. But when the goodies stopped coming, so did most of the people. Eventually, that little church that we established made some hurtful decisions and trickled down to almost nothing.

God desires to help the poor. He gave His Son so that they could be rich. So now, we give the people the most valuable thing we have: Jesus. (Of course, in extreme situations, we discretely provide the material help they need.) Once curses are broken off their lives and they understand the blessing of faith in Jesus, they get set free from poverty and He meets all their needs. We’ve seen it work time and time again.

11 Responses to Gems on the Sword —– Jan 22

Interesting post. Of course, there’s much more to say about the 22nd Psalm.

vs 1 states, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” vs 8 says ““He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” vs 14 and 15 “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. vs16-18 “For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me;they have pierced my hands and feet—17 I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

The word “dogs” is a Jewish colloquialism for gentiles. I’ve heard various commentary about those words spoken from the cross and trying to explain them away. Basically Jesus is saying, “Hey! Look! I’m fulfilling prophecy, and I have no control over these events.”

Agree with the first point which basically is “feed a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime”

“Once curses are broken off their lives and they understand the blessing of faith in Jesus, they get set free from poverty and He meets all their needs. We’ve seen it work time and time again.”

We have also seen this not work time and time again. Will a Christain living in some poor part of the world in Africa, Asia or South America all of a sudden become not poor, of course not. Is there any link to being religious and being ok in a wealth sense, I would argue there is no evidence of this at all, many of the poorest people on the planet are very religious.

Kelly, it’s an interesting thought provoking issue. You and I tend to conceive wealth as an objective measure. But, being poor isn’t really an objective measure, it’s a state of mind. Some parts of the world still view livestock as expressions of wealth. They could be considered wealthy in one part of the world, but in abject poverty when other parts. The link to Christians and “being ok” in a wealth sense only comes from the knowledge that our needs will be provided.

You’re right about one thing, Kelly: becoming RELIGIOUS does nothing to combat poverty. I would argue that it can be in the case of many religions the cause of it. When Christianity is a RELATIONSHIP with the Father and not a religion, lives are changed. Having been up close and personal with folks in third world countries, I can name several cases of people who were in extreme poverty until they gave their lives to Christ. One man, for example, was known as “El Diablo” in his village until he came to Christ and got set free from alcoholism and many other vices. He now holds a job, owns a vehicle, increased the size of his house, and his kids are clothed, fed, and educated (You should have seen them before!). He is now the elder of the church in the village and works to show others how to have LIFE in Christ. I could name several other cases including those who got raises, new jobs, etc.